How to Create a Successful Blog Based Business

When you first get interested in blogging it is not obvious how complex creating a successful blog will be. Like any other business, there are many variables that must be addressed correctly. The more of these you understand and handle, the faster your blog will grow and the more success you will have.

While you could start with a free WordPress.com blog, if you are serious about turning a blog into an income generating business we do NOT recommend doing that. If you aren’t sure you’ll like blogging you could use a free blog to find out. Other than that do NOT use a WordPress.com based blog for business because there are restrictions against using the free version to make money.

Their system is also usually painfully slow, so if you’re serious don’t waste your time there. Go directly to buying your own domain and installing WordPress on it.

If you are not technically inclined, we strongly recommend hiring someone to handle the technical details for you. Let them:

Unless you are a programmer able to create your own, your Theme should be one that is professionally designed, thoroughly tested, and that offers ongoing support (important so that your blog continues to work as WordPress versions, plugins, and widgets may change). After years of research we decided on Thesis. All of our blogs originally used that Theme.

Later, when Thesis 2 was late coming out, we switched GrowMap to Genesis and it is what we use on any new blogs we decide to create. Some of our blogs are still on the original Thesis.

Themes and especially Thesis can be customized in both layout and design. Your Theme installer can alter the number of columns and where sections appear on the page. If your budget allows consider also paying for custom design features. Someone who installs blogs will have some design skills and more complex changes will require someone who specializes in design.

EVERY BLOG SHOULD HAVE:

A Blog or Business Name – ideally one that is memorable, easy to spell, and not terrible common so it can be easily found online

A Blog Logo that can also be cropped or reduced and used as your Avatar on Social Networking sites, your Gravatar in blogs and a Favicon.

Blog / Business Slogan also called a Tagline – critical to make it instantly obvious what your blog site is about

Search function – ideally in the top right in either the header or the right sidebar

Pages for about, contact, and any others specific to your business

An obvious way to Subscribe to RSS, Subscribe to email, Follow on Twitter and other options you desire

Serious bloggers all use over a dozen plugins and widgets that they have researched and configured. These are important for getting your blog indexed in the search engines and to improve your interactions with your readers. Let your expert do this for you too.

Must-have Plugins:

Social Warfare – amazing social sharing plugin with Click-to-tweet and Twitter cards built-in plus the ability to share 3 different images to different social networks.

Yoast SEO – we have Twitter cards turned on in Yoast so the featured image from the WordPress field goes to Twitter and a different image in Social Warfare goes to Facebook and LinkedIn. We often use a third image such as an infographic to go to Pinterest.

Never invest your limited time in learning something that you only need to have done once.

If you desire to become an expert then by all means learn this; if you are primarily a writer or running a business focus on those skills instead.

Here is where we are so far:

Domain purchased and directed to your hosting company

WordPress installed

Theme installed

Theme Design customized

Widgets and plugins installed

Blog Name, Logo, Slogan and Favicon, pages, subscription options

By having all of the above completed by someone who has vast experience knowing what to do and how to get it done, your new blog is now ready for content and traffic.

Instead of spinning your wheels and wasting time learning all of the above you can focus on learning how to use WordPress including how to use tags, keyword phrases and fill in the SEO plugin information. You will also want to improve your copywriting. Create some quality content first and then you can move on to how to use various methods to drive traffic to your blog. See the links in the reference sections below for additional information.

Do NOT be tempted to skip any of what we have recommended above because to do so will limit your success!

These recommendations are the result of hundreds of hours of research and collaboration on Web design, usability, SEO, blogging, WordPress, plugins and widgets, copywriting, and testing what drives conversions. Choosing the wrong Theme, failing to add SEO friendly content behind the scenes, not making it obvious what your site is about, not making your blog easy for your readers to interact with – any of these mistakes will hurt you.

Ready to get started? While there are many who can assist you, we rely on Derek at Threaded Web (@dereksemmler) for both this blog and our new Joint Venture niche blogs that include related stores full of affiliate products. Derek is enormously talented at working with affiliate product feeds. More on that in a future post.

How do you make money with your new or existing blog? Subscribe now so you won’t miss future posts on that very subject.

[NOTE: Thesis is so flexible and can be modified so much that there are many design mistakes or omissions that can be introduced. Do NOT assume that anyone who can figure out how to make changes is qualified to make them!]

COPYWRITING:

Don’t make this major common mistake: readers DO NOT care about your business – they care about themselves! Copy MUST BE about What’s In It For THEM.

BLOGGING INCOMES:

Reality Check on Average Blogging Incomes

Don’t Fall for Those Who Are Living the Pro-Blogging Lifestyle By Selling YOU The ProBlogging Dream

Peter Lee shares an example of a REAL Blog Income: Work From Home April 2009 Blog Income Report – We recommend his blog to any serious bloggers. He shares what works as he learns and tests new methods.

Gail Gardner is the founder of GrowMap.com. She is a Small Business Marketing Strategist she mentors small businesses, bloggers, and freelancers.
After 23 years in the field with IBM and 5.5 years managing AdWords accounts, her focus shifted to small business marketing strategy. GrowMap.com is listed by Cision as a Top 100 Site for Marketers and has received three Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends. Named by D&B a Top 50 SMB Influencer on Twitter, you can follow Gail @GrowMap and on LinkedIn.

HI, Gail Gardner , its really proactive type post, as i am digital marketing specialist so your post is very essential one for me and i have got some ideas from it regarding how good blog should be and what kinds of things should be inside it.

Very nice and informative article for newbies and business blogger who want to publish business related blogs on their niche. I really like this article because, you’d written everything from first and you’d explain everything clearly in short. Thank you dear Gail Gardner for sharing this article with us.

Love wordpress and use it exclusively for all our sites and client sites. Blogging is such a critical part of really any business these days — it’s no longer JUST for bloggers — and I personally believe every business out there should have a blog and update it regularly.

I just read an article about a study done a few months ago that businesses who blog earn 4 times more on average in internet customers than companies who don’t.Brendan would love you to read ..Content Is The Absolute Backbone Of SEO

Hi there, just found your blog and was pleased to read your post. WordPress is the appropriate platform to use when your are not so technically experienced in coding and web design and all the stuff that scare people from starting their own business blogs online.

Once you get all the basics of how to set up a wordpress blog, a beautiful journey begins of learning as there are always new tools and seo tricks you can apply to improve your blog’s everything. 🙂

You don’t necessarely need to hire someone for the technical part.
If you can read and follow instructions then it wont be that hard.
I didn’t know anything about this when I started out, but I just read some blog posts and watched some videos and I could install it just fine.
If you put in the time once then the next time you need to buy a domain, find hosting, install wp etc. you can do it easily. Unless you barely know how to turn on your pc, then it might be smart to hire somebody 🙂Danny would love you to read ..Remington RM1015P 10-Inch 8 Amp Electric Pole chain Saw

I totally disagree because while most can eventually get a blog installed that is NOT all it takes to create a really top blog and many people will be pulling their hair out before they just get WordPress working.

It has never been easy – it is just more obvious now because people share so much more than they used to in the physical. I usually follow anyone who leaves a comment – but you have your tweets protected. You know that will severely limit the potential for increasing your contacts and leads from Twitter, right?

I follow many people every day, but I almost never follow someone who has protected tweets. That is partly because I don’t know if they’ll want me to follow them but mostly so I will not inadvertently share anything they have posted to a private group.growmap would love you to read ..Why We Need Group Geo-Targeted Niche Blogs

I never recommend or link to any blogger who recommends strategies that can get you banned. I focus on sharing only those other blogs that have the same ethical standards I do.growmap would love you to read ..Why We Need Group Geo-Targeted Niche Blogs

Thank you for this information….. One can make a lot of money or a little…..it has to do with the desire and a well laid out plan. Unfortunately most people are living their lives on other people terms and they do not understand why what they want is not coming. The question is…. are you living your life in accordance with your values or compromising them for someone else? Live Big in Your Life NOT small in someone elses.
( Mona McClelland http://www.MeetMonaMcClelland.com Abundant Life Guide & Health Coaching Specialist)

This article hits it right on the nail. For someone looking at starting blogging, then this is your spot. Plugins are great, and yes has immense value. But will not help to much if your content is not great.

Good advice! Unfortunately, a lot of the basics of blogging are ignored from the get go due to lack of knowledge. For example, your advice for hosting your blog on your own domain. Thanks for including excellent followup advice in the comments too!

I doubt that many really understand how much is involved in being successful online. I’ve been researching and actively doing it since the mid-1990s and full time since 2000 and there is still so much to learn!

You may be VERY interested in the post I’ve featured in CommentLuv because it makes getting free Local Search Directory listings for businesses faster and far less painful. I don’t manual enter all those listings any more because automating the process and then upgrading them is a much more productive method.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Free Business Listings in Local Search Directories =-.

I’m glad you like my blog and I hope you become a regular visitor. I visited your site but didn’t have the time to translate it right now to figure out what it is about.
.-= growmap´s last blog ..Why Marketing is NOT Evil =-.

The essence of a blog is content. Really take time to sharpen your writing skills and understanding of grammar and punctuation. Practice, practice, practice. I find my clients often do not distinguish the way they write and the way they speak. I had to edit out “you know” from one of my client’s articles. There must have been two dozen instances of that overused phrase.

It wouldn’t hurt for people to upgrade the way they speak too if their current pattern includes repeatedly saying “you know” or “ummmm”. I agree that if you want to blog continually improving your copywriting skills is essential. Some may need to enlist assistance from someone more talented at grammar, spelling, and writing than they are at least for a while.

My strongest tip is to always write from the perspective of what is in it for the READER. Many business sites focus on themselves far too much. Only your about page should be all about you and even that could focus on what you have to offer THEM.

Every time I read something that starts out “My business has been doing blah blah blah for X years” I immediately hear the reader thinking “so what”. They want to know that stuff AFTER they decide you have something they’re interested in – not in the first paragraph of everything you write.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Best of GrowMap: Our Pillar Foundation Content =-.

What most people don’t realize is successful businesses are grown by continual improvement. It isn’t usually a dozen major things – it is 1,000 small things that each add up to success.

When you comment in the future you should take advantage of how KeywordLuv works to get more specific anchor text to your blog. Put your name first and the words you want linked after the @ sign like this:

Gal Katty@Adult Braces

That will make only the words Adult Braces into your link and give you better ranking in the search engines on that phrase. When you comment in blogs that use KeyWordLuv or have anyone write about and link to your site vary the anchor text you use for best results.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Happy Birthday GrowMap – One Year Old Today =-.

I can do blogging on my own but the traffic part and rankings is the busy part. It is obvious you cannot monetize a not visited blog. BTW, some plugins are so poor quality and some people make them for backlinks and nothing more.

Blogging is not an easy task. Writing post can be fun, but then a lot of bloggers are just watching stats all day long just to see another visitor to their page. That’s hard to monetize on.
.-= Affiliate marketing blog´s last blog ..How does affiliate marketing work? =-.

There is no secret to bringing in traffic; it just doesn’t happen overnight (unless you are really good at buying ppc traffic). Obviously watching stats won’t make anyone any money. You have to use them to determine what is working and what isn’t and do more of what works.

Yes, some plugins cause issues. That is why we recommend that new bloggers collaborate with someone who has already researched which plugins to use. That cuts down on the time required to get a blog up to speed.

Have you read our post How to Start a Successful Blog Based Business? Tools like Datafeedr and PopShops make it faster and easier to quickly create a niche site, populate it with quality targeted products, and then – provided you have quality, unique content – you can start driving traffic that will convert.

The thing most just don’t want to admit is all this takes time. It really can NOT be done overnight (unless you are already famous) or are extremely talented at buying ppc traffic. Like any other business you have to build it and then grow it over time.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Add Your Business to Merchant Circle =-.

There are all kinds of resources that can teach you to become a better blogger including this blog and what I link to from it. While doing can certainly help sometimes it is best to collaborate with others who excel at what you don’t enjoy doing. Usually we are best at what we love doing and unlikely to become really proficient at what we do not.

You can learn a lot from our regular reader and commentator who has a Wedding DJ business in Sacramento, California. He offers great tips that really work for him.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Add Your Free Business Listing to infoUSA =-.

Hi,
I heard a lot about Thesis theme and it looks very nice. You have a great blog and I just love the work that you do here.
Well great tips and the most basic one which everyone should follow.
Thanks for sharing post.

If you want to take advantage of anchor text links for multiple search phrases try to put them in different posts. This is better for readers of blogs and less likely to get your comments deleted.

I suspect your comments may have been captured by Akismet so you couldn’t tell you had already left a comment in this post so I left them both this time. My philosophy is we’re all still learning and “mistakes” are simply learning experiences. I want my readers and commentators to feel welcome and brave enough to ask any questions they may have.

I would love to be able to always acknowledge every comment. Eventually I may have to stop but for now every reader can get a personal answer from me. A Bible College site is a great idea for a niche site. I’ll share your link and send you some traffic. It would not be a bad idea for you to add your site to Local Search Directories including infoUSA.

Thanks for the mention and link. I heard a lot about Thesis theme and it looks very nice. You have a great blog and I just love the work that you do here. Every time I come to your blog I always take back lots of learning with me. Thanks.

Thank you. I feel the same way about your blog and each time I visit I remind myself that I really need to visit you more often. We’re not quite done here – we just stay so busy we haven’t made some things happen yet. I do hope to get a new logo and Avatar created that is similar enough to the existing one that people will recognize me but much more polished.

I hope my regular readers will take the time to drop by and check out the content you share n your blog. I am certain many of them can benefit from your experience working from home and making money online.

I have always advocated for a self hosted blog, and while it is nice if you have the money to pay someone to install and do everything for you I think you learn a lot more by doing it yourself. The fact is that installing WordPress is really pretty simple if you follow instructions. It must be because I was able to do it.

I also agree that a professionally designed theme is the way to go, otherwise I would still be running WassupBlog on a free theme and be the worse for it.

While many CAN figure it out my point is that most are better off paying for whatever only needs to be done once so they can focus their time and energy on what they do regularly. Yes you can learn much more doing it yourself and there are some things like upgrading WP and plugins that the blog owner may wish to learn.

Learning it all yourself takes time and delays making money. It also has inherent risks such as not learning enough about how to do proper backups and losing a great site or not understanding security and having your site hacked.

Some are really into doing it all themselves and I admire them for their ability to do that. I want others to know that wisdom often dictates that collaborating with those who have years of experience can often be far more productive.

I hope you have time to look around and read some of our other posts. We do organize them in categories and sub-categories that you can find in the right sidebar to make finding all the posts about a particular subject easy to access. You can also use the search box found at the top of the right column.

Remember that people read these comments so writing something interesting is more likely to get them to visit your site. If you’re wise you can comment on a post and relate it to what you do on your site or how what I recommend benefits your business. That keeps your comments relevant and invites our readers to visit you.

Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Create a Successful Blog Based Business Part 1

Great tips. Thank you so much for posting these (and all the links you included!)!! I’m in the midst of redoing my website, and although I’m not going to be blogging for business, there are ways that I can make my blogging that much better than it is right now.

I’m not sure if outsourcing almost everything is such a good idea. I’d start small with some free wordpress blog and then slowly move to more advanced features once you’re sure you can and want to do it for a longer time.

These recommendations are for those who are serious and want to know the best way to do it right. Many would have already blogged or micro-blogged and know they will keep blogging OR they see the benefits to their primary business and want a platform that will give them the maximum return for their investment.

Time is our most valuable asset and these recommendations maximize the results any blog will obtain because they increase traffic, readers, and subscribers. Each plugin is chosen for a specific purpose and some make a huge difference in return visits and gaining subscribers.

Some of the most important are a way to optimize for SEO (All-in-one-SEO or what is built into Thesis), CommentLuv to create a friendly community, Threaded Comments to enhance readability, and ensuring it is obvious how to subscribe.

Excellent and to the point post, this would especially be useful for a small business trying to make an online presence and connect to their existing and potential customers.

@KaiLo: I thinking branding is very important for recall, if your blog only has online presence and relies mostly on search engine traffic, you may not require it. But for offline business, people need to remember your business’s name and associate it with certain type of services or products.

Welcome Dan. Good to have another SEO to add to our discussions. Many don’t realize how effective branding is even for hobby sites. Who can forget Tamar’s grinning goat with braces Avatar? If you’re a fan of her writing you’re far more likely to see it and click through.

For sites I share on Social Networking sites frequently I often recommend they modify their header logo so I can share it. It is easy to overlook text on a page. Having their branded header logo in what I share at FriendFeed or StumbleUpon ensures that readers won’t miss any entries thereby increasing their traffic and readers from that source.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Why You Can NOT Rely Solely on Organic Search Listings for Traffic and Revenue

Excellent post with great tips which most should try and follow.
I completely agree with you, if you are serious about turning your blog into an income generating business it is not recommend having a free wordpress blog. I once wrote an article about this.

Salwa’s last blog post..Traffic Monday: How to Get Tons of Web Traffic Using Your Article Resource Box

Some great tips and links here, ideal for those who want to make money from their blogs. But we shouldn’t forget how ‘web-logs’ started out. They were exactly as the name suggests – a web based log. People used them to diary their activities and interests. There is still plenty of room for blogs that have no commercial interest and that exist purely as a platform for the blogger to say what they like. No need for business names, slogans, logos, search functions, about pages or contact forms. Just a weblog, plain and simple.

Even those who just write often like to be found and read – at least I assume they do or they wouldn’t make their writing public. If that is true, they too can benefit from these tips.

I primarily write for those who are serious about growing their business or blogs so my advice is more important for them than for hobby bloggers. I suspect many of them will not bother with their own blogs since they can micro-blog at Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed or any other of a multitude of platforms.

One thing bloggers should keep in mind is that creating quality content is an investment and has a value. It is wise to give some thought up front to who will control that content and what they can do with it.

I suspect many whose blogs develop a following look back and wish they could monetize but can not because they chose the wrong blogging platform.

I’m with Mitch on this one, even though I went straight to hosting my own blog from day one, only because I already had a website. Having said that and not being technically inclined, which is why I use a theme that is almost idiot proof, I reckon that most would be able to install a wordpress blog. Heck, it almost installs itself. Also there are quite a few hosts that offer Fantastico for installing wordpress.

Either way, I agree, if you are serious about blogging for money then self hosting is a pretty important step in the right direction.

It all comes down to how seriously does the blogger want to be successful. If they just want a place to write any platform will do. If they want to develop readers and search traffic why limit your results by doing anything less?

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Why You Can NOT Rely Solely on Organic Search Listings for Traffic and Revenue

It surprises me the number of posts that talk about if a new blogger should go with a free host or his own domain and paid host. All the posts recommend the later, but it still surprises me that this is a question at all.
Before you start a business, you should have a business plan.
If the business plan says you will make money and you believe it, you should invest in the business and get your own domain and host.
If the plan doesn’t say you will make any money or you’re not really sure, you should start over and come up with a different business plan.
Just my humble opinion. 🙂 ~ Steve, the trade show guru

Everyone must start where they are with what they know. Starting a business on the Internet is complicated by the huge number of people who think they know how to do it and even those who clearly know they don’t deciding to blog about it!

While those with a business background start with a business plan (and anyone who is planning to raise money from a bank or venture capitalist), I bet most people who start online businesses do not have business plans, don’t know how to create one, and many would rather not bother.

It is quite possible for a Web site or blog to make money. As soon as I can get some paid work completed I will be sharing the best ways to grow an income online.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Promote Your Business Without Cash

While I agree with you in principle, you know that I’ve always said that, unless a person is absolutely sure that they can keep up with a consistent writing pace over at least a couple of years that they shouldn’t even consider starting a blog. Therefore, I’m of the opinion that a totally new person could do well by going with a free blog of some kind, hopefully WordPress.com rather than Blogger, just to see if blogging is for them.

Course, if they want to pay for someone to blog for them, I’m available,… 😀

The only drawback to that is how incredibly slow free WordPress hosted blogs are unless you only type text and don’t add links or images much. Businesses who want to play with blogs could also use Merchant Circle or any of the other sites that offer them a platform and ready-made traffic.

Any business that wants to seriously tap the power of blogging should make the effort to do it correctly from the start. If they don’t have the time or desire to keep up with it they can hire someone like you to write for them.

Well now, we have two thoughts on this point also, and I don’t think we’d disagree at all. One, if your going to have a blog to promote your business, it definitely needs to somehow be tied in with your business, and you don’t have to purchase a separate domain name for it, instead creating a subdomain name. In that case, you shouldn’t go for free, although I do know some folks who do, but they’re not trying to make any extra money.

Two, if you’re going to do all the writing, but still aren’t sure how the process will work, then still stick with something free to start out with, but if you feel you can get it written, or want to hire someone to write your content for you, then you’re good to go in putting it elsewhere, which even includes creating a totally new domain name if the idea is to have the blog make money while at the same time promoting something else, or just niche blogging on its own.

I mentioned “making money blogging” because so many start blogging because they are interested in doing just that and they jump in writing about it. That makes it even more challenging for new bloggers to sort out what works and what doesn’t, especially with all of the “get rich quick” blogs around.

I visit all the bloggers who leave comments here and strive to answer every question. While English is a global language I suspect there are also many who would love to read in their native languages. If I could write well in another language I would certainly consider creating a popular blog for those who do not read English.

Among English readers there are those of us who recognize intelligence and are willing to overlook difficulties with grammar. Some do not and that is their loss. English is a difficult language with so many exceptions and even many Americans have poor writing skills. Although it is obvious to me that English is not your native language what you post is understandable.

In your comment I noticed that we put “am” in many sentences and that must be different than in your language. For example, you wrote “I surprised” and “I able to read” and we would write “I am surprised” and “I am able to read”.

I blog to help as many small businesses and blogs as I can, especially those who can benefit from expert advice and lack the resources to buy them or do not yet value them enough to pay for them. Feel free to ask and comment as frequently as you wish.

Your comments are not boring and for every question asked there are always many who have the same questions yet do not ask.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Promote Your Business Without Cash

Surely GM, I do not have any experience about any thing about “Make Money” and I do not want to write about it.

I surprised you visit my blog and do some investigation, many thanks for that GM. Many reason why to blog in English because English is global language and give more reader. I able to read in English but I need to improve My writing skill ,take a course may help. I hope you are not bored with my comment.

I am never bored with you, Charona – just often so busy that I don’t get to answer every comment. Even though bloggers in other countries often write in English I really believe they would do better to write for their local audience and build a business in their own countries.

Welcome Charona. The best content is what you are very interested in because you will love researching and blogging about that. I would stay away from saturated niches like how to make money blogging (unless you can share personal true stories about really doing it!) and focus on what you know.

When you choose a domain name make it memorable and easy to spell. Many common words are easily misspelled so stay away from those. It is generally best to only consider .com extensions because many automatically type .com when they enter an address.

I have a question you may be able to answer. Why do so many whose native language is not English choose to blog in English? Are there not many who read and speak your native language who would also be interested in what you write? Is it because they are perceived to not have as much money as Americans or because there are few affiliate programs for selling products to other countries?

If I were going to start a new blog I would seriously consider writing what people from your country are sincerely interested in. You may have to be creative with ways to monetize. I would be happy to offer suggestions to anyone who wishes to do this.

I noticed you are using the Translate This Blog plugin. Have you tried reading many blogs written in English to see how good the translations are? How well does it work? Do you think I should have that function in this blog?

I find that those for whom technology comes easily rarely realize how challenging it is for the majority of Internet users. Years ago I once spent an hour trying to teach a Pharmacist how to change the background color in Front Page.

We know he was intelligent because he had to have college degree and must have passed chemistry, yet he could not understand the sequence of point & click actions required. I assure you that everyone can NOT install WP, configure plugins, write code, or change CSS.

There is far more to having an SEO optimized and highly interactive blog than just installing WP. Just figuring out which plugins to install and how to configure them is very time-consuming.

Usability is important as is having a layout that is easy on the eyes. I am sure you’ve seen some blogs – too wide, too busy, too many clashing colors – where the owner really should have considered hiring a designer!

This post is just laying the groundwork. Many important tasks are still to come, especially getting your blog to make money, generate leads or increase your store sales.

While it is obvious that you certainly are capable, I stand by my suggestion that those who have a business, want to generate an income in a specific niche, and those who write will all be far ahead by focusing their time and talents in those directions and letting a technical person do this part.

We even have a plan for setting up blogs in partnership with those who have the ability to create quality content for specific niches. Even if they don’t have money we want to discuss the idea with them and determine whether a niche they are interested in has income generating potential.

Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Promote Your Business Without Cash

Hello Kai Lo. Good to know you are a regular reader. Even if we don’t believe in gravity it still exists. The Google Dance definitely does happen. What concerns me about Google is they are a lot like the law. Even if you do everything right you may still be penalized.

Internet Strategist’s last blog post..TwtPoll 2: What Local Search Directories Do You Use to Locate Products and Services?

I don’t believe it is necessary to make a brand out of yourself. I don’t use logos or anything on my blogs. I just want to make money by focusing on SEO to get traffic. Search engine traffic are the ones who click stuff.

Welcome Kai Lo. My readers are primarily small businesses and bloggers and they do need to have a consistent Avatar across every means they use to drive traffic. I do NOT recommend branding your individual self but I do believe it is absolutely necessary to make it very obvious what your site is for because if you do not people WILL just click away.

Even though you don’t use an image for that, it is very obvious what your site is about by the huge Make Money Online across the top. You could say that is the “brand” for your site.

While search traffic is the largest volume and those actively searching are more likely to convert, it is also at risk. Google can squash any business they choose any time they choose and there is nothing you can do about that but start over and hope they don’t do it to you again.

For those with plans similar to yours I would definitely want to be diversified. Just remember Google can link almost anything done on the Internet so even that is no protection. Have you read the post I’ve used in CommentLuv in this reply?

Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Why You Can NOT Rely Solely on Organic Search Listings for Traffic and Revenue

One, some hosts actually have the WordPress software, so you don’t have to do anything except click a link and let them create it for you.

Two, you don’t have to go out and buy a theme. If you’re new, or heck, if you’re not new, you can pretty much find a theme that will suit your needs that’s free just by searching for it on Google. The main thing is to NOT stick with the default theme that comes with WordPress, because, well, it’s the default, which means so many other people are already using it; that plus it’s pretty dull.

Hi Mitch. Thanks for taking the time to comment. You’ve given me the opportunity to expand on why I recommend what I do.

While it IS true that many hosts have finally automated the installation of WordPress, I stand by my opinion that most people don’t have the technical background, desire, or time required to figure out what else to install and how to do it.

The fact that you have a blog that has obviously been upgraded proves that you are one of the technically inclined folks who know how to figure out how to do it yourself. You are in the minority and I am in between. While I have been involved in technical work with computers since the late 1970s I do not manage those aspects of this or any other blog myself.

Free themes are fine for hobby blogging; however, they are not optimized for SEO (search engine optimization) so they start out at a disadvantage as far as receiving traffic from search engines. Less traffic means less income in the long run.

Those who know how can add the All-in-One-SEO plugin to help with that; however, they would also need to know how to edit the default names (to remove the date for example). There may be other SEO-friendly aspects to Thesis beyond those two that are obvious to me.

Also, free Themes are rarely supported so changes to WordPress or adding plugins can break them and it will be up to the user to figure out what happened and how to resolve the problem. Basing a site intended to make money on something that could make it stop working at any time is a risky proposition. The less skills you personally have to correct what happens the more risky that decision will be.

You’re absolutely right, but one of the things about purchasing a customized theme is that many people don’t know how to use it and can mess things up. I don’t quite know what you mean by a theme already optimized for SEO, as I’ve never heard of that before, but some blog themes are set up for advertising, including blogs that are Adsense ready.

My thinking is that, for a new person, I’d hate them to start out with the best, so to speak, and still not understand how things work. For some people just starting out, it might be eye-opening just to pay for the domain and hosting, and then get used to how blogs work in general. For those who have some experience, your way is great stuff.

We’re almost on the same page now. What I’m recommending is that they buy a theme and have someone who really knows what they’re doing get it set up just the way they want it. There is no danger they’ll mess it up because they aren’t going to be doing any modifications themselves.

Yes, it does make sense to play with a free theme if you are planning to learn how to alter them yourself for the reasons you mention. Most people should not even consider figuring out how to do it themselves. They should focus their time and efforts on writing and running their business because they’re only going to need that stuff done once.

Notice the my note at the very end of the post indicating that just because someone can change something does NOT mean they are qualified or know what they’re doing! I change nothing in this blog – instead relying on Derek and Sammy to make alterations because they DO know what they’re doing and I do not.

I am VERY aware that changes can quickly make a mess of things and it takes far less time to make a small change than it does to fix what someone who did not know what they were doing has touched.

That knowing is what keeps me from messing with settings and graphics and anything else that only needs adjusting once. In our collaborations it makes more sense for me to focus on writing and driving traffic and let them focus on things they already know so I don’t need to learn.

One thing SEO-savvy bloggers do is edit the names of posts and add fields specifically for search engines. Some use a plug-in called All-in-One-SEO or something similar to provide tags, keyword phrases, custom titles and descriptions and any other necessary fields to be filled in as posts are created.

There may also be a separate field or fields for Technorati or some other industry specific site. Thesis may have additional SEO friendly features that I haven’t discovered yet.

Anyone could blog for years, never even knowing about these upgrades that can greatly increase search engine traffic. Many have their blogs set to require someone to register or log-in to comment and then wonder why they get so few (or no) comments.

If I gave all of the reasons for everything I recommend each of my posts would be a book and I’m sure some find them too long as it is. What people have to do to get ahead is figure out whose advice they can trust and then start following their recommendations.

Just as we don’t have to know how to rebuild a motor to drive a car, those who hire someone to set up their Thesis-based blog professionally don’t have to understand all of these details – they only have to know how to use their new blog.

It’s still an outlay of money that I wouldn’t suggest until someone has determined whether they have it in themselves to write for the long haul. Nothing looks worse than a blog where no one has written anything in months, or even years. Starting with a free blog, of sorts, eliminates that worry if one needs to test themselves, and if they can do it, then create something more specific that can make money and use the old blog to link back to. I know many folks who have done that.

We are in total agreement on one thing; if one really wants to try to make money, it will be imperative that they eventually get their own domain name and hosting package.

Hi Matt, Thanks. There is more coming which is why I called this one Part 1. The next section will discuss various ways of making money including how to quickly have an affiliate product stocked store added to an existing blog.

Thank you. We both know there is far more needed than most will ever notice. Only those who figure it out will be successful. We’re just trying to give them a leg up.

I just exchanged Tweets with Chris Pearson (@pearsonified) last night to suggest a turn-key version of Thesis for non-geeks that will allow them to do what I’ve recommended in this post without having to code anything.

Specifically I recommended having a header that includes using your Avatar and typing in your blog/business name and slogan. I also mentioned having color palettes so anyone can choose a different “look” without having to know design.

New sites won’t be listed in the search engines yet. The fastest way to make that happen is to get incoming links from a site that is being crawled regularly. Adding a comment here should take care of that.

How well your site gets indexed can be improved by adding SEO optimization plugins. I don’t know if there are any for Blogger but I would certainly hope there would be. The most common one for WordPress is All-In-One-SEO and Thesis has that functionality built into the Theme.

Understanding tags (keywords) and the basics of SEO helps too. Make each post about ONE topic, use the best two to three word phrase as your tag / keyword phrase, include those words in your title and use it when you name your post and in the text on the page.

Check out the replies to the comments above yours for ways to drive traffic. Subscribe so you’ll be sure to receive the next post on how to get those who already have followers on Social Networking sites to send you traffic.

Welcome Gagan. Which do you feel is the most basic one? Most people who are blogging today have not figured out ten percent of what is going on behind the scenes in blogs like this one. I invest most waking hours in researching and collaborating and together we have finally arrived this far.

There is always more to do. Sometimes you know what needs doing and are still researching the optimum way to make it happen; sometimes you haven’t discovered it yet.

All the traffic in the world won’t help if your blog doesn’t already have quality content and doesn’t have the ability to turn visitors into regular readers. You also have to provide what makes your regular readers and commentators happy such as adding threaded comments, gravatars, CommentLuv, KeywordLuv and so on. (Those are explained in the post I mention later in this comment.)

What this post is recommending is key to attracting ever more traffic. It includes plugins to make your blog rank better in the search engines and others such as those described in the post Blogging Best Practices: Enabling Your Readers to Subscribe to Comments. I will link that post to this comment.

Optimizing your blog is a higher priority than driving traffic. If you’re already running there are many ways to drive free traffic. Check out what I suggested to Charona in the comment just prior (above) this one.

If you look in the categories section in the right sidebar under Online Growing Strategies you will see “Free ways to get traffic”. Check out those posts.

Any blogger or business that has a physical address they can use should also click on the tab above that says Local Search. Getting listings will improve your search engine rankings for all your search phrases.

Commenting in other blogs and especially CommentLuv dofollow blogs is a great way to double your traffic in days. See the post I’ve linked to this comment called Blog Traffic Up 54.87% – it is almost always featured in the Recently Popular section in the right sidebar.

Every blogger should learn to use Social Networking sites such as Twitter and FriendFeed too. There is a category for that. This comment is already long or I would make some suggestions on how to get those who already have followings to send you traffic. Look for a new post on that.

Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Why You Can NOT Rely Solely on Organic Search Listings for Traffic and Revenue

@Charona The comment just above was in reply to yours. Now I think I know why some prefer the plugins to the threaded comments option in WordPress. Even though it appears that I was replying to Charona when I entered the comment above, it actually put the comment below the one to Jeff.

Hopefully you will both be reading both replies anyway as they contain information that will be useful to you.

Welcome to GrowMap, KushMoney. Those who are into doing it themselves can visit your Build a Blog post. Thank you for including that link in your comment. I hope you’ll check out some of our other posts. Do feel free to leave links to any other related and relevant posts you may have published.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..WordPress 2.7 Threaded Comments Works In Thesis

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